Friday, April 13, 2018

National Poetry Month : Kate Hargreaves,


An early gift for February 14


                                   
                                                                                                                        T

an acoustic shadow the shape of
echogenic arms
medical-grade plastic is.
                                                                                    loose and    wandering
white cross just bigger than a toonie.

                                    floats in a world of pink and pinker and fluid red

                        and.


The x-ray tech shoots film of my insides.
Says I can pay 5 dollars to download the snaps from home.
Save them to my personal PC to respond to any #sendnudes.
Lower torso minus clothes,
minus skin minus organs.
Just bones bones and a                                                          white

                                                                        T
Autoreply to a dick pic.
            Autoblock. delete.

Rogue T bumps against bladder walls
digs pink divots
                         pinker.
           
Silvers                         a                      snail trail of                  proges t rone   behind.

                                                                                                            Proges t in
                                                                                                            Levenoges t erol.
                                                                                                            Loveges t eronal
                                                                                                            Love
                                                                                                                        jes t
                                                                                                                                    own
                                                                                                                                                all
softer le tt ers
                                               
            sharp single                                                     T

dug its way through my uterus last Monday,
wiggled through walls and poked out the other side like an earring pushed through a years-sealed hole.

                                    T

Rattled my insides until I folded into
two

t il t ed

the in-training tech pressed
bladder kicking harder

stack your fists behind your back

(asked for extra help twice that twenty-three minutes)
of polite bracing against shaking legs

they’ll call with results and GPS coordinates
longitude/latitude of lost letters slipping behind my bowel

tilt
clamps pried pinheads into straw widths
splitting the space behind gut button
a butter knife under fingernails two inches belly deep

They’ll need special tools to remove i            T
tongs and sounds grabbing invisible strings
We’ll just yank it out (turn you inside out
borders of your body
aren’t

guts and medical grade plastic
                                                                                                            T
tickling linoleum




Kate Hargreaves (photo credit: EveryLittleWonder) is a book designer and writer who also works providing writing support to university students in Windsor. Her books are Leak (Book*hug), Talking Derby (Black Moss), and Jammer Star (forthcoming, Orca). She spends her free time playing roller derby, riding bicycles and running an instagram account for her cat (@blackcatwinn). Find her on Twitter @paineyre or at www.corusKate.com.

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